The Chief Executive Office of the Ghana Free Zones, Ambassador Mike Oquaye Jnr. chaired the meeting and welcomed members to the inauguration.
Dr. E.O. Osae, Director-General of the Internal Audit Agency inaugurated the Audit Committee of the Ghana Free Zones. In his address, he congratulated members and thanked them for agreeing to serve on the Committee. He noted that the Audit Committee is a statutory Committee provided for under the Public Financial Management Act. Members of the Committee, he said, are to support and advise Management and not to take over the running of the Authority. Dr. Osae enumerated the three main roles of the Committee as Mandatory, Advisory and Supporting.
On the Mandatory roles the Director-General said it requires that they support management deliver on their mandate, implement recommendations from External Audit reports, Internal Audit reports directives from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament and any monitoring reports of the operations of the Authority.
The Committee is also required to annually submit a report on the extent to which the Committee has supported management to deliver on their mandate. Dr. Osae noted that copies of these reports are to be submitted the Office of the President, Auditor-General, Parliament and Siga. He advised members of the need to thoroughly scrutinize the report before submitting.
On the advisory role, members were encouraged to advise Management on control systems. He encouraged Management to ensure members of the Committee are represented at Entrance and Exit meetings of External Auditors and also ensure a quick review of the system before allowing them in so as to clear doubts and avoid any form of pitfalls.
Dr. Osae assured the Authority of the Agency’s support and shared on ongoing reforms in the Internal Audit space to curb corruption and save resources of the nation.
The Chief Executive Officer thanked the Director-General and pledged his support to the Committee.
Members of the Audit Committee are Mr. Usuman Abdul Razak (Chairman and IAA Rep), Mr. Joseph Magnus Niccol (IAA Rep), Mr. Mark Ofori Amanfo (ICAG Rep). Mr. Jojo Fosu and Dr. Susan Alo are representatives of GFZA. Mr. Jesse Agyapong is the secretary to the committee.
